By Holly Bounds
Published: February 3, 2009 (WSAV3 evening news)
No
matter how long it’s been for you, chances are you probably remember a
grade-school field trip or a special assembly. They are different
learning experiences than the typical classroom setup and those usually
stick with us. This week a special visitor is working with students at
Bluffton’s M. C. Riley Elementary School and hopes are, her lessons
will stick.
“You will butter the glue on there just like you’re buttering
bread,“ Mosaic Artist Karoline Shaffer Burgett told the 3rd grade group.
There’s no doubt,a lot’s going to stick with this project.
“I’m trying to fill in the palm tree with different kindof blocks,“ student Brandon Andrade said.
When you’re dealing with glue that’s nothing but goo, you can’t really help it.
But besides ceramic tile pieces, the idea is that a whole lot more sticks with these students.
“There were like a bunch of symbols with SC that I never even knew about,“ student Anna Barnard said.
Starting with South Carolina facts and on to an appreciation to
where art can take them, their principal hopes the students will grasp
every aspect.
“We want to be sure that in elementary school, children receive a
balanced education, the reading, the writing, arithmetic…that’s
important, but arts needs to be a part of that, too,“ Principal Joshua
Parks said.
With that in mind, the Parent Teacher Organization and Hilton Head
arts community helped sponsor an entire school week where students
learn from an artist in residence. This marks Mosaic Artist Karoline
Shaffer Burgett’s first visit to M. C. Riley. Getting the invite was
more than a compliment.
“I’m tremendously thrilled that the school considers art a
high-priority project,“ she said. With budget cuts the way they are,
arts are usually the first thing to go and that’s a really scary thing
because that means a lot of people won’t be able to use their
imagination like we’d like them to.“
But as long as they’re allowed, M. C. Riley students will take hold of the opportunity; who knows where it could take them..
“Sometimes people here can make stuff to help other people,“ Andrade said.
